Key Note Gaming

Megabonk may have withdrawn itself for consideration for best indie game at next week's The Game Awards 2025, but it's now long-listed as one of 30 fan-favorite games in the running for the Players' Voice category. Megabonk was nominated for Best Debut Indie, alongside Blue Prince , Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 , Despelote , and Dispatch . Developer Vedinad, however, withdrew their game from The Game Awards in mid-November , saying it didn't qualify for the category, as Megabonk was not their debut game. "It's an honor and a dream for Megabonk to be nominated for TGA, but unfortunately, I don't think it qualifies for the category 'Debut Indie Game,'" the developer said at the time. "I've made games in the past under different studio names, so Megabonk is not my debut game." Shortly after that, The Game Awards creator Geoff Keighley shared a statement of his own acknowledging the request and stating that Megabonk would be rem...

The original director of Ubisoft’s Splinter Cell remake, David Grivel, has returned to recommence his role as director on the game after leaving Ubisoft in 2022 . Grivel confirmed the news himself in a post on LinkedIn (via GamesRadar ). “Today, I am very, very happy to announce that I’m rejoining Ubisoft Toronto as Game Director on the Splinter Cell Remake!” wrote Grivel, noting the team and project are very special to him. Grivel previously worked at Ubisoft for just over a decade, from 2011 to 2022. Prior to his brief initial tenure as director on the Splinter Cell remake he contributed as a game designer on a variety of projects, including Splinter Cell: Blacklist, Assassin’s Creed: Unity, Far Cry Primal, Far Cry 4, and Far Cry 5. Grivel rejoins Ubisoft after a stint at Ridgeline Games working on the campaign mode for Battlefield 6, until EA abruptly shuttered the studio in early 2024 . The Splinter Cell remake, which was first announced way back in late 2021, has been sku...

Justin Lin is set to direct the upcoming film adaptation of Arrowhead Game Studios’ Helldivers franchise, according to The Hollywood Reporter . Lin is best known for his work on a number of Fast & Furious movies, and was the director of the series from The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift in 2006 until Fast & Furious 6 in 2013. It won’t mark the first time Lin has set his sights on outer space, as he also directed Star Trek Beyond in 2016 – and later returned to the Fast & Furious series to direct 2021’s F9 (in which he sent Ludacris and Tyrese Gibson into literal orbit in a 1984 Pontiac Fiero). The Helldivers movie has been written by Gary Dauberman, the writer of several Annabelle films and The Nun – as well as the co-writer of 2017’s It and the writer of its 2019 sequel, It Chapter Two. Sony Pictures’ and PlayStation Productions’ Helldivers movie was announced early this year at Sony’s CES 2025 press conference . The project comes in the wake of the immense success...

The free-to-play NetEase-published Wuxia adventure, Where Winds Meet , has topped 9 million players in just two weeks. The open-world action-RPG debuted on PC and PlayStation 5 on November 14, and hit a peak concurrent player count of 251,000 on Steam (Sony does not make player numbers public). Over 89% of the game's 70,000+ Steam reviews are positive, too. A mobile version is due out on December 12. Offering full cross-play and shared progress, you'll be able to dip into the action wherever you are, with "a portable Jianghu in the palm of your hand." If that sounds good to you, you can pre-register for mobile (iOS or Android) right here . IGN's Where Winds Meet review returned a 6/10. We said: "Where Winds Meet has a great understanding of what makes wuxia such a compelling genre, but its attempt to shove so many different things into one game only ensures that none of those elements reach their full potential." Cyber Monday is your last chance ...

Magic: The Gathering’s has a series of formats, but easily its most popular is Commander. It involves building a 100-card deck that works with a ‘Commander’, and buying a preconstructed deck is the best place to start. Still, Wizards of the Coast did produce some ‘Starter Commander Decks’ in 2022, but they’ve been harder to find - and even tougher to get for their MSRP of 25 bucks. Thankfully, as we spotted in our Magic: The Gathering Cyber Monday deals , all five are in stock - and sitting pretty at the price they should be. These are a great way to get started with Magic: The Gathering’s Commander format, and while there’s no major reprint value for collectors or longtime fans, they’re a pretty solid package. Magic’s Starter Commander Decks Are In Stock For MSRP This Black Friday There are five decks to choose from, and as I’ve covered previously , Draconic Destruction is an easy recommendation. This red and green deck is a little slow in the early game, but grows into offer...

Amazon has been dropping new book deals since Black Friday, and one of the most popular discounts available has been on The Witcher books. Andrzej Spkowski's Witcher series is the basis for the entire phenomenon. The popularity of the series may have been elevated by The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and the Netflix series, but its the original story that has inspired the dark fantasy world we've come to love. The latest Cyber Monday deal on this box set drops the price down to just $33.79 for the whole paperback set. This is a lower price than what we saw last week when the buy 2, get 1 free sale was still live , so it's worth picking up as an individual set before the deals end tomorrow. The Witcher Boxed Set Deal at Amazon This convenient collection comes with a box to store all five books on your shelf. The spines all sport the same red binding, making them pop on your shelf. The main novels follow Geralt of Rivia, the titular Witcher, and his decades-long quest to prote...

With the Black Friday and Cyber Weekend season in full swing, Pokémon TCG players will be happy to know that not only are Phantasmal Flames boosters and ETBs in stock and ready to buy at Amazon & TCGPlayer , but they can also get some sweet deals, too, depending on which you buy. The best storefront to go for each Phantasmal Flames product depends on the various listings available, but TCGPlayer offers a compelling added incentive by offering 10% cashback on all purchases as in-store credit (available until 1 December at 11PM ET). If you plan on buying any of the most valuable Pokémon cards in Phantasmal Flames , this is a very good way to take a bit of the sting out of your wallet. This pairs greatly with the Phantasmal Flames Elite Trainer Box on TCGPlayer , as the card-selling marketplace has listings for unopened boxes from around $87 right now. Amazon’s Phantasmal Flames ETBs are available from $94.99 , thanks to some new price cuts from various sellers — making these...

Fortnite developer Epic Games has announced that 10.5 million players just tuned in for Zero Hour, the highly-anticipated live event that featured heroes from the world's biggest franchises turning up Avengers: Endgame-style to save the day. Online, at least 3 million more watched the event via streaming platforms. Iron Man, Superman, Godzilla and the KPop Demon Hunters were just some of the characters who made appearances within the event, as Fortnite's finest gathered to defeat the Dark Presence, the game's latest Big Bad. Many of the characters appearing in the event had been teased ahead of time, though exactly what would happen was left uncertain. And indeed, despite going multiple rounds with King Kong and a Star Destroyer, the Dark Presence was still left standing. Perhaps the biggest surprise of the event was quite how much Fortnite celebrated its own beloved lore, with the Dark Presence finally defeated thanks to a last-ditch decision by Jonesy to call in the ...

Black Friday is here , and Magic: The Gathering fans can grab all sorts, including Collector Boosters , at a discount - but this Commander Deck is worth a look. Sultai Arisen comes from the Tarkir: Dragonstorm set, and Amazon has lopped 21% off of the list price to bring it down to $44.91 . Looking for a new deck to try, or your first taste of the Commander format? This could be ideal for you. This Commander Deck Is Under $45 For Black Friday There are five Tarkir Dragonstorm Commander Decks, with each representing a three-color combination of the Magic color pie. Sultai is black, green, and blue, meaning you get some graveyard recursion, some big creatures, and slick control opportunities all in one. Its two Commander options are Teval, the Balanced Scale, a 4/4 with flying that helps you build your lands from the graveyard and create Zombie Druids, and Kotis, Sibsig Champion, which also brings cards from the graveyard to power himself up. Teval is worth around $12 on its own...

If there’s one thing that looks to be a popular item this Black Friday , it’s the Nintendo Switch 2. We’ve already covered why the console is unlikely to see discounts (TL;DR, it’s super popular), but if you’re looking for bundle options, then Nintendo is offering two of its own. While the Mario Kart World Bundle has been around since the console’s launch, the more recent Pokémon: Legends Z-A bundle is getting tough to find ahead of the Holiday shopping season. In fact, we’ve been watching stock dwindle all day, but there’s one place that still has it - Gamestop . Gamestop Still Has The Nintendo Switch 2 Pokemon: Legends Z-A Bundle In Stock On Black Friday The good news is that the console is in stock, but the bad news is that there’s no additional discount on the bundle right now. You’re saving around $20 from buying the bundle rather than getting the game and console separately, though, and hey - it’s in stock, not something we can say about other big retailers right now. ...

A wave of speculation among fans of Alan Wake 2 and Control developer Remedy Entertainment has been sparked by the filing of a fresh trademark, just days ahead of The Game Awards. As spotted by MP1st , a trademark for something named "Control: Resonant" was filed yesterday, November 27, by Remedy's legal firm, Nordic Attorneys at Law Ltd. This, it's stated, is the same group responsible for all of Remedy's other trademarks. The obvious conclusion here is that Control: Resonant will be the title of Remedy's upcoming Control sequel , which the developer first announced for PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S back in 2022 . Little else is known about the project, however. The timing of the trademark's filing raises eyebrows, coming exactly two weeks before this year's The Game Awards broadcast on December 11. And Remedy has gone big at the show before, with a full dance number during the show's 2023 ceremony to celebrate Alan Wake 2. Of cou...

I’m parked at the back of the grid on Mount Panorama, awaiting the race start, and there are cars ahead of me literally facing backwards. This is not going to go well. As you’d expect, pandemonium ensues when the lights go off. The race has just begun and it’s already a mess. Unfortunately, this is Project Motor Racing in a nutshell right now. On paper, Project Motor Racing is precisely the sort of racing game I want to play. It has a great selection of cars, a number of which are thoroughly underrepresented in modern racers. It’s also not crippled with free-to-play chicanery or subject to a monthly subscription, and its focus isn’t primarily multiplayer. All of this is high-octane music to my ears. In practice, however, Project Motor Racing simply hasn’t worked out, and I’ve totally bounced off it in its current state thanks to AI that essentially ignores your presence on track, a hopelessly uneven penalty system that serves only to frustrate and ruin your races, and its array of...

Here we go! It's officially Black Friday 2025 , and the amount of Pokémon deals available right now is insane. Rather than sifting through endless listings, I've already done my homework to ensure trainers catch the best Pokémon deals. From Pokémon TCG to Plushies, there's something for every Pokéfan this year. TL;DR: The Best Pokémon Black Friday Deals The best thing about Amazon right now is the different ways to get even more money off these Black Friday deals. The first method is applying for an Amazon Visa card . If successful, you'll snag a free and instant $60 Amazon gift card to spend right away, no need to get into debt. You can also get up to 50% off using the AMEX or Discover loyalty scheme, which also includes points to spend on orders to save money. You usually have to spend atleast $1 on your card to activate the automatic discount, but you'll end up saving far more. Let's get into the best 2025 Pokémon Black Friday deals, whhich i'm a...

Amazon has almost every Ultra Pro Magic: The Gathering Final Fantasy playmat on sale during its early Black Friday sale. A small number of popular mats, like fan-favorite Vivi, Stray Black Mage are sold out, but there are many other mats with incredible art to pick from at new discounted prices. Magic: The Gathering Final Fantasy Playmats On Sale If you're new to TCGs , people use playmats as a way to show off their favorite art or accomplishments, and also for practical reasons: have you tried picking up cards off of a kitchen table? I assure you, it gets annoying fast . With the Final Fantasy crossover set that launched this past June, TCG accessory maker Ultra Pro released tons of playmats featuring some of the most iconic characters and moments from throughout the game series' long history, including Y'shtola from Final Fantasy XIV and Lightning from XIII . Mats for Final Fantasy VII characters Cloud and Tifa feature the new art from their cards, and some mats,...

If you're a Nintendo Switch or Nintendo Switch 2 owner, there is no better series of games to collect than Mario. The plumber has had some of his best adventures ever across the two systems, and this Black Friday , you can save on select Mario games for a limited time. Nintendo rarely puts its games on sale, so now is the time to pick these Mario games up before deals run out. These Black Friday Nintendo deals have been very popular so far and have mostly sold out at Amazon. We've included the other retailers that still have the games in stock. Every Mario Switch Game on Sale for Black Friday 2025 First up, it's hard to beat Super Mario Odyssey for only $29.99. Mario's quest to stop Bowser from forcibly marrying Princess Peach sees him traversing various Kingdoms with a new friend named Cappy, a sentient hat creature and this game's central gimmick. Mario can throw Cappy to possess and take control of enemies, inanimate objects, and more. If there's one...

PlayStation's official Black Friday 2025 sale is live from Nov. 21 to Dec. 1 at PlayStation , and the clear standout this year is the new Ghost of Yotei PS5 bundle . Both versions, the black and the gold edition , are down to $499.99, a straight $100 drop from the usual $599.99 MSRP. Each bundle includes the themed console covers, a matching DualSense controller, and a full copy of Ghost of Yotei, which already puts it ahead of most standard hardware deals. Editor's Note: This article is brought to you in partnership with PlayStation. Even if you compare it to buying the console and game separately during the sale, you're still saving around $20, and you're getting a limited edition design that actually looks like something worth unboxing. Whichever direction you prefer, both are easily among the most striking PS5 limited editions released so far, and Black Friday pricing makes them a strong pick for anyone looking to upgrade or give a gift that feels a bit ...

A handful of fun Lord of the Rings board games are on sale at Amazon as part of its Black Friday sale . Most of these are Amazon Lightning Deals, meaning they're only available while supplies last. You can save between 15% and 30%, depending on the game you pick, and they vary in play style from hours-long campaign style games to shorter sessions for a quick game night. The Lord of the Rings Board Games On Sale For Black Friday Risk: The Lord of the Rings Trilogy Edition is a classic with an iconic skin. This version of the popular board game comes with maps of Middle-Earth locations like Gondor, Mordor, and more, making you feel like you're actually doing battle with hordes of orcs. There's also The Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle-Earth card game and the Spreading War Expansion, two very in-depth campaign games that'll definitely make you lose a few hours. For a little quicker and lighter, the Duel For Middle-Earth strategy game has players choose between t...

When I fired up Cricket 26 for the first time and hopped into a quick five-over game to get my eye in, I was pleasantly surprised by how substantially smoother it all seemed in contrast with the messy launch state of 2023’s Cricket 24. Cricket 26’s lighting and player models all really pop, the inputs feel far snappier, and the fielders all seem like they actually know there’s a game being played – unlike the dawdling doofuses in Cricket 24 who all seemed to stand around with their hands in their pockets. Then my match between the Mumbai Indians and the Delhi Capitals crashed at the change of innings. At which point I reloaded it, and it crashed again. And again. In fact, the longer I played Cricket 26, the more obvious its numerous technical flaws became, to the point that I’d have to say that my experience with Big Ant Studios’ latest has been a bit like playing on a cricket pitch in Perth – the grass looks greener on day one, but it’s not too long before the cracks start to show. ...